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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24054196">An Attempt At Skype</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwanFloatieKnight/pseuds/SwanFloatieKnight'>SwanFloatieKnight</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Merlin (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Covid-19 Related, Established Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Established Relationship, Family, Family Fluff, Good Uther Pendragon (Merlin), I just had the urge to write him as a cute grandpa, Kid Mordred (Merlin), M/M, Skype, They have adopted Mordred or something, inspired by real life, no beta we die like men, quarantine fic, video calls</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 17:48:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,246</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24054196</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwanFloatieKnight/pseuds/SwanFloatieKnight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>There is one thing that Arthur would never have expected of Uther:<br/>that his father ever would get a webcam</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>242</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>An Attempt At Skype</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/MightBeUnusual/gifts">MightBeUnusual</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>In this 'verse, Uther is a professor at university and living in London, while Merlin and Arthur live on a farm in Wales.<br/>Inspiration came from a very cute lecturer at my uni whom we persuaded to get a webcam so we could do zoom meetings with him :)</p><p>the horse mentioned in the story is dedicated to a friend of mine who absolutely loves horses and told me to include horses in that story &lt;3 Here you go, Candy is yours :*</p><p>also sorry this might be a little bit very kitschy XD</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>A/N: I posted this fic on Ao3, and on Ao3 alone. If you read this on any other website or platform, please consider that I did not consent to this.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Arthur was doing the tax return when he got the first of three ominous skype calls. Someone with the name “UtherTheKing” called him, and his profile picture showed a bunch of people, but was too blurry as that Arthur could have recognized him. To be fair, it was a little creepy, he didn’t know anyone who would call himself UtherTheKing on Skype, because the only one who would use that name, his father, would never get Skype. Not over his dead body. So he declined the call and continued with his business.</p><p>Two minutes later, the unknown person called again. Again, Arthur declined. He was not in the mood to talk to strangers right now. Probably someone just got the wrong name and would notice that soon enough.</p><p>When he got the third call he was fed up. It was annoying when you constantly got calls while trying to get work done, after all. He would just accept it this time and tell whoever was calling him right now that he probably got the wrong contact and to leave him alone.</p><p>“Whoever you are, I’m busy and you probably got the wrong number,” he complained as soon as he could hear a crackling that told him that they had a connection. The other’s video was still loading though, and Arthur’s own webcam was turned off anyways. Neither did he intend to turn it on.</p><p>“Yes, that is as much as I expected. Not even quarantine is stopping you from overworking yourself. Doesn’t your husband tell you to take it a little slower from time to time? Because he should?”</p><p>Arthur blinked in confusion. Whoever it was, he didn’t only know an awful lot about his private life, he also sounded a great deal like his dad. But that couldn’t be. He still remembered Uther’s protest when Morgana and he had forced him to buy a laptop some years ago so that he could train to use the computer he had in his office. Getting a skype account and calling Arthur, that was just something Uther would never do.</p><p>But then the video popped up, and Arthur was staring in Uther’s a little stressed, but broadly grinning face. “Is it normal that I can’t see you?” he asked.</p><p>Arthur couldn’t do much but stare.</p><p>“Arthur? Are you still there? Is the connection bad? Hello, Arthur?” Uther was nearly screaming now.</p><p>Arthur sighed. “No, dad, I’m still here.” He raised his hand and turned on his webcam. “And you should even be able to see my video now.”</p><p>“Yes! Yes, I can see you!” Arthur wouldn’t have thought it possible, but Uther’s smile got even wider. “How is your day?”</p><p>“Uhm… okay? Nothing spectacular.” Arthur shook his head. “Who on earth persuaded you to get a webcam?”</p><p>“Ah, those were my students. They wanted me to hold online classes to discuss with me rather than just me sending them essays and letting them analyse them. Now I’m even doing office hours via zoom.”</p><p>“Understandable,” Arthur murmured. “Well, that’s great that you finally got a little more in touch with technology. But who told you my skype name? Was it Morgana?”</p><p>“Yes, actually. She also helped me to set things up. The webcam and everything. She gave me instructions via phone.” Uther looked so proud at his achievement that Arthur couldn’t help but smile. “Anyways, where are Merlin and Mordred?”</p><p>“Oh, so you didn’t call me in fact, but my son and my husband?”</p><p>“Is it so wrong that I want to see my grandson once again, after all those weeks?”</p><p>Arthur smiled. “No. Of course not.” He had to admit that it really warmed his heart to see how Uther had grown fond of Mordred over the last years. At first he had been sceptical at the idea of Merlin and Arthur adopting a child. “But Merlin and Mordred are out with the horses. If you give me a minute, I’ll call you again from my phone and then we can go out together.”</p><p>Uther nodded, and Arthur ended the call. He saved the tax reduction form and shut down the computer, then he grabbed his phone and made his way outside. While walking across the yard and along the country lane towards the pasture, he called Uther again.</p><p>“How’s the connection out here? Can you hear me?”</p><p>Uther’s video was a little blurry, but his happy face made up for this small inconvenience. “Yes! And you have nice weather! Did you have a nice day so far?”</p><p>“It was okay. I cleaned the bathroom. Made lunch. And I was just doing tax return when you called me. Also, you can stop screaming, I can hear you very well.” Arthur finally spotted Merlin and Mordred with the horses and waved at them. “But I thought it wasn’t me anyways who you wanted to talk to?”</p><p>“Well, it’s also nice to see you once again. How’s the job going?”</p><p>“Not much happening at the moment. I have two calls a day and the rest of the time I’m helping Merlin at the farm. And speaking of Merlin…” He pulled his husband into a hug and kissed his cheek. “Hey, love. I brought you someone who wanted to talk to you.”</p><p>Merlin glanced at the display curiously. “Uther? Is that really you who is skyping?”</p><p>“Grandpa?” Mordred looked up at them. “Is it grandpa on the phone?”</p><p>“Hello, Mordred, my little knight!” Uther’s face lit up once again. “How are you?”</p><p>“Grandpa!” Mordred’s little voice was so full of joy that Arthur couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m fine! Look, I was just visiting Candy! Can we show Candy to Grandpa, dad?” He looked up at Merlin, and Merlin turned the phone around to show Uther the sturdy white pony. “Doesn’t she look cute?”</p><p>“Oh yes, very cute. You can see how much you care about her.”</p><p>Mordred beamed and continued to ramble about his favourite horse, and Merlin held the phone in the background and listened to Uther talking happily to his grandson. Arthur smiled at them.</p><p>“I’ll leave the phone with you and go back, right? I wanted to finish the tax return today. And then I’ll make dinner?”, he whispered.</p><p>“Sure,” Merlin whispered back. He pulled Arthur close once again before he left, to kiss him on the lips and to add: “And then you have to tell me who actually managed to persuade your dad to get a webcam. And a skype account. Seriously, I didn’t believe that such miracles are still happening.”</p><p>“I know. I was just as surprised as you are.” Arthur looked over at Mordred who was now sitting on the fence clutching the phone. “But I’m so glad he did it. I haven’t seen Mordred that happy in a long time.”</p><p>When he went back to the house to finish the tax return and cook dinner he could not even start to realise how lucky he was. He had not only a loving husband and a wonderful son. And if they hadn't been the best thing that could have happened to him, Mordred's chubby cuteness as a toddler had also managed to warm up Uther towards their little family, and by now he and Morgana had gained a caring father and grandfather. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>if you liked this, please leave me a comment and/or kudos :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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